Dental floss holder



Oct. 15, 1940. H. w MU'NRQ I 2,217,917

DENTAL FLOSS HoLbER Filed Nov. 24, 1 939 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 15, 1940 UNITED STATES DENTAL FLOSS HOLDER Harold W. Munro, Providence, It. I. Application November 24, 1939, Serial No. 305,963 Q 10 Claims.

This invention relates toa dental floss holder and has for one of its objects to provide a holder which in use will provide an unobstructed view of the area of the mouth where cleansing between 5 the teeth is performed, all by reason of parts on g the holder and without the necessity of using a second hand or separate device for holding the mouth open.

Another object of the invention is to provide a m dental floss holder which will enable the mouth to be held open and lips and inner cheek held out of the way for viewing the cleaning action and will make it unnecessary to place the fingers in the mouth to accomplish this result.

A further object of the invention is to provide a broad side View of the base of the teeth at the area being cleansed.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a view of the teeth without holding the mouth open to a large extent, but rather by pushing back the lips without unduly stretching them to afford such viewing.

Another object of the invention is to prevent pinching of the lip by a sawing action of the floss as it is drawn in and out between the teeth.

Another object of the invention is to provide a convenient holder for a supply of the dental floss and the maintaining of this floss in a housed, packaged position until it is to be used.

8 Another object of the invention is to provide a convenient location for mounting of various desirable parts, such, for instance, as a cutter, clamping devices, and devices indicating how the floss is to be woven into fixed position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a movable arm provided with a convenient clamping device by means of which the movable arm which mounts one end of the bridging portion of the floss may be swung to tighten the floss, 40 without it being necessary to provide additional means to draw the floss across the arm.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device with the floss arranged in working position;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pivotally mounted arm with the clamping section of the 55 post omitted;

Fig. 6 illustrates a side'elevation of the device as inserted into the mouth of the user;

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but showing the device in inverted position in the mouth of the user; i

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the device in relation to the mouth in a still different position; and

Fig. 9 is aside elevation as a modified form of the device.

In the use of dental floss it is convenient to provide a'holder which will maintain the floss tight so that the same may be inserted between the teeth for removing any foreign matter between the teeth by a sawing action. A fixed, short U-shaped device for performing such action is sometimes used, but when such a device is used, if one wishes to view the area being operated upon, it is necessary to hold back the lips with another hand. A bow device is also sometimes used for holding the floss where the floss is extended over a substantial length. These devices also require a second hand to be used to hold the lip back and if the' lip is not'held back in the use-of such a bow device, frequently the lip may become pinched by the sawing action of the floss ferred means by which these advantageous results may be accomplished:

With reference to the drawing, I designates the body portion, the shape of which may be better illustrated in the drawing than described. This body portion is arched as at i I with the handle portion I2 extending therefrom upon which handle a clip I3 is mounted to receive a supply package [4 of floss. This'supply package will have a hole preferably in its side from which a length of floss lfi may be drawn. The clip i3 is resilient so that when one supply package is exhausted, another maybe substituted therefor by forcing the package Id out of the clip and snapping a new supply package thereinto.

At the opposite end of the body It] a fixed arm I'I extends generally at right angles to the eX- tent of the body portion Ill, and upon this fixed arm some suitable clampingdevice is mounted. The clamp which I have illustrated consists of a TENT OFFICE post I8 grooved as at I9 for the reception of a strand of dental floss wound therearound. The post is'formed in two sections consisting of a fixed section 20 and a shorter loose section 2I mounted upon a pin 22.

At a point on the body between the end arm I I and the supply package I mount a second arm 24 (illustrated in perspective in Fig. 5) by pivoting the curved end reduced portion of ear 25 of this arm in the reduced curved recess 26 of body ID to receive it, there being a hollow rivet 21 extending through the ear for such pivotal mounting, or the same may be detachably pivotally mounted for cleaning when desired. This arm also carries a securing means similar to the securing means previously described; that is, a post 28 extends outwardly from the arm which is provided with a groove 29 for the reception of the dental floss. This post is formed in two sections consisting of a fixed section 30 and a movable shorter section 3I slidably mounted upon the pin 32. This arm 24 may be rocked about its pivot 21 by a handle .33 extending from the arm generally longitudinally of the device. This handle is arched upwardly as at 34 to provide a recess 35 into which the lip may extend, as at 36, to provide a guard (see Fig. 8), whereby the lip is prevented from interfering with the action of the device and will move with the device in operation. I consider the term lip sufliciently broad to include any part of the face about the mouth which may come in contact with the holder. The body I 0 being arched as at II receives the opposite lip 36 about the mouth so that the mouth is not held open an undue extent when the side teeth are being cleaned. In this case, the side of the body of the device as seen in Fig. 8 will engage the lip at the corner of the mouth and hold the same back sufficient to enable the teeth on the side to be viewed. The end of guard 37 also assists in this function. This arm 24 is provided with a guard plate 31 which will engage the lips 38 (see Fig. 6) or 39 (see Fig. 7) and will prevent this lip from crowding in about the device to either be pinched by the device in the operation thereof or to prevent viewing of the portion being cleaned. This guard plate 31 tapers to a lesser width toward the handle 33 for better accommodation of the lip in the recess 35 when the arm I! is placed in the mouth with the opposite end outwardly in the normal manner of use.

There is mounted on the guard plate 31 a cutting device 40 adjacent to the path of the dental floss. To thread up the dental floss a length is drawn from the supply package and with the arm 24 swung forward, the floss is caused to follow the path shown at 49 to extend between the slit 4I formed between the sections of the post 28 and section 3 I, thence once about both sections of the post to bind the portion extended in the slit therein, thence through the slot 42 in the guard plate, thence under the portion of the guard plate 43, and then upwardly through a slit 44 and past the cutter 4U, thence to the post I8 in the groove I9 and about the sections thereof, thence through the slit 45 formed between the sections to lock the floss on the post. The fixed portion of the posts I8 and 28 are higher than the movable sections so as to form a guide for the insertion of the dental floss which is to be clamped by the post. The handle 33 may then be pressed to swing the arm about its pivot 21 and tension the floss in the area 46 between the arms.

The body is usually formed of some plastic and there is some springiness in the body which regulates to some extent the tautness of the floss by the tension applied. The arch of the body II also forms a stop to limit the amount of swinging action which the pivoted arm may have with its engagement with the arched portion 34.

When it is desired to renew the section of floss, the end 41 may be engaged and unwound from the post I8 and the used part may be severed close to the used section to avoid waste merely by pulling outwardly on the same against the cutter 40. The floss extending between the cutter and wrapped about the post 28 may be left there until a new strip is desired when the portion of the floss beneath the portion of the plate 43 may be engaged for sliding the same out of the slots 44 and 42 to be detached from the post 28 and a new length drawn out of the supply package and wrapped into clamped position around both posts as previously described. In some cases, the pivoted arm 24 need not be provided and a fixed relationship embodying all of the other features except the tightening of the floss by reason of pivoted parts is as illustrated in Fig. 9. Here the fixed arm is designated as 50 instead of 24.

From the above, it will be apparent that when the device is in use, the lip will be held back, giving greater visibility to the area being cleaned. It will be unnecessary for the operator to put his hand in the mouth in order to hold the lip back or to even use a second hand; and at the same time, the lip will be prevented from being pinched.

The device is easily cleansed by merely holding the thumb over the hole I5 in the supply package and rinsing the same. The device may be hung up on a hook by reason of the undercut fixed arm I1.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible.

I claim: l

1. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during cleaning of the same and provided with lateral flanges extending oppositely therefrom to provide a guard to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the floss between the teeth.

2. A dental floss holder comprising a body with m a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during the cleaning of the same and provided with a recess therein of a depth inwardly beyond the line of direction of said floss to receive the lip and to provide anabutment to engage the surfaces of the lip to cause the same to move with the holder in the operation thereof.

3. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during the cleaning of the same and provided with a laterally extending plate-like guard at right angles to the plane of the arms and of different lateral extents the wider portion being inwardly and the narrower portion outwardly to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the same between the teeth in the operation of the holder.

4. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, one of said arms being pivotally related to said body, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, lateral flanges on said pivoted arm extending laterally from said arm to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the same between the teeth, and a handle on said pivoted arm manually engageable to move the arm and guard thereon to tension the floss.

5. A dentalfloss holder comprising a body provided with a post having a fixed section and a movable section between which a strand of dental floss extends and is locked therebetween, by a portion of said strand passing about said movable section and arranged to apply a binding action thereon, one of said sections being shorter than the other providing a surface to guide the strand between the sections.

6. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during cleaning of the same and provided with lateral flanges extending oppositely therefrom to provide a guard to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the floss .between the teeth, and a cutter on said guard past which the floss extends in locating the same in operating position.

7. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during cleaning of the same and provided with lateral flanges extending oppositely therefrom to provide a guard to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the floss between the teeth, and slots extending inwardly from the edge of said guard for receiving the floss to locate the same in position on the holder.

8. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, means on each arm to secure dental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, one of said arms being located on said body at a position intended to be outwardly of the teeth to be cleaned during cleaning of the same and provided with lateral flanges extending oppositely therefrom to provide a guard to engage and press back the lip out of the path of movement of the floss when manipulating the floss between the teeth, and slots extending inwardly from the edge of said guard for receiving the floss to locate the same in proper position on the holder, a cutter on said guard located adjacent to the slot and on the side thereof nearest the other arm, whereby said slots after severing of the floss by the cutter serve to hold the floss in a position for ready removal from said slots. 9. In combination a dental floss holder and a strand of dental floss comprising a. body, a post on said body having a fixed section and a movable section, means for guiding the movable section for sliding movement on said guide toward and from the fixed section, said strand being wound about and extending between said sections as the 'sole means to hold said sections bound on said strand whereby the tension on the strand performs the holding function of the same.

10. A dental floss holder comprising a body with a pair of spaced arms extending therefrom, one of said arms being a bell crank and pivotally related to said body, means on each arm to securedental floss thereto to span the space between said arms, and the other portion of said bell crank providing a handle engageable to swing said pivoted arm and draw taut the dental floss which extends between said arms.

HAROLD W. MUNRO. 

